Therapy dogs can be found providing comfort to everyone from stressed students to nervous flyers but they are not necessarily associated with elite sport.
But England's cricket team owe a debt of gratitude to the role played by six dogs in helping Jofra Archer get back to his best following his lay-off in 2021.
Prior to the three-day ODI series in South Africa in January 2023, the fast bowler had been sidelined since March 2021, spending most of his time "shovelling lots of poo and feeding lots of dogs".
Archer revealed that to help him cope with the loneliness and rigours of long-term rehab after a career-threatening elbow injury he "went a bit crazy probably a month after I got back to Barbados, and I got about five dogs in the space of four weeks."
Read the full article on The Athlete's Voice - and look out for a special feature on Jofra's recovery from the injury that ruled him out of the Ashes.
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